Ford, GM, Toyota Join U-M’s ‘Driverless Vehicle’ Test

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) – The University of Michigan says General Motors, Ford and Toyota are among industry partners for an automated vehicle testing site that’s designed to simulate a cityscape.

A groundbreaking is Tuesday for the Michigan Mobility Transformation Center, which is scheduled to be completed this fall. Last year, the university’s regents approved the $6.5 million, roughly 30-acre driverless car testing site near the school’s North Campus.

Other companies involved include Bosch, Econolite and Xerox. The school wants Ann Arbor to be home to a shared fleet of networked, driverless vehicles by 2021.

Ann Arbor is the location of an ongoing experiment involving so-called talking cars. Thousands of wirelessly connected cars, buses, trucks and motorcycles are operating as a part of a study conducted by the university’s Transportation Research Institute.